The Legal Information Buyer's Guide & Reference Manual is the leading
and most comprehensive consumer guide to legal information in print.
This edition, which is annually updated, includes updated information on
thousands of legal information products, including reviews of over 1,400
legal treatises and specialty titles (including dozens of new titles).
The book contains current bibliographic and pricing information on over
1,600 state primary law and secondary titles, and hundreds of additional
products, including federal statutes, state and federal digests, legal
encyclopedias, annotated reports, citators, administrative codes, legal
newspapers, CD-ROMs, and much more.

This book was primarily written to address the needs of the solo
practitioner and the attorney in the small or medium-sized law firm
operating without a law librarian, but will also serve as a valuable
resource in a variety of law, academic and public libraries. It is based
on the assumption that while lawyers are highly educated people,
sophisticated in their knowledge of the law, they often lack even the
most rudimentary understanding of the ways of legal publishing and the
marketing techniques which unnecessarily siphon away their hard-earned
dollars.

It has been estimated that the average lawyer spends more than $4,000
per year on information, a figure greater than that of any other
professional and more than six times that of the average doctor. A major
portion of that $4,000 is wasted, either because many of the materials
are poorly selected, are never or rarely used, are ill suited to the
lawyer's specialty, or are overpriced. With the help of this book the
average practitioner could reduce his or her expenditures for legal
information by 50% without any essential loss of utility or currency.
Applied judiciously, the information and strategies presented in this
book will save you thousands of dollars in unnecessary expenditures over
the course of your legal career.

Key Topics Covered:

Introduction

A Brief History of Legal Publishing

Taking On the Legal Publishers: the Making of the FTC Guides

Building and Maintaining Your Law Library

Evaluating Legal Materials

The Question of Supplements

Unsolicited Shipments, Telemarketing and Other Practices

Used Law Books: The Economical Alternative

Part II: Categories of Legal Publications

State Statutes

Federal Statutes

Regulations

Municipal Ordinances

Case Reporters

Annotated Reports

Digests

Citators

Legal Encyclopedias

Looseleaf Services

Legal Periodicals

Legal Newspapers

Legal Newsletters

General Law-Related Reference Titles

Legal Acquisitions Toolbox

Legal Resources on CD-ROM

Computer-Assisted Legal Research

Finding Law on the Internet

Legal Treatises: Administrative Law to Zoning (253 Pages)

State Publications: A Practicioner's Guide (major legal publications
for each state) Alabama to Wyoming (including the District of Columbia)

Index

Reviews:

Cited by Legal Information Alert (Sept. 2004) as one of the 20 Top
Innovations and Services in the field of legal information in the past
ten years.

"This monumental resource is the product of rare expertise and
scholarship by a respected expert in the field of legal literature...For
those attorneys without the benefit of the assistance of a professional
law librarian, Svengalis' book is a godsend." Donna Bausch in Law
Practice Management

"Surely the most comprehensive, single-volume guide to legal information
resources available today." David Bachman in Law Books in Review

"I personally have not encountered the type of cost-conscious analysis
in any other publication of this type. I would recommend this book to
anyone who simply wishes to become better informed with regard to legal
bibliography." Jack Montgomery in Against the Grain

"The first serious attempt to provide lawyers with the information they
need to bring the costs of legal information under control...I know of
no other publication like it." Joe Stephens in the Oregon Bar Bulletin

"Svengalis has now written a book...which details all he knows--and he
knows a lot--about to get a quality collection of legal materials at the
least possible price." Fritz Snyder in Legal Information Alert

"The Guide provides not only cost-saving strategies in the selection and
purchase of legal materials, but also serves as a valuable reference for
analyzing the quality of an existing collection or starting a new one."
Julius Marke in the New York Law Journal

"This is a very accessible reference work which should be consulted by
every lawyer who is concerned about the costs of maintaining an
up-to-date legal library at a reasonable cost...By writing this book,
Mr. Svengalis has performed a signal service to legal publications
consumers throughout the country." Caroline Cornwell in the Rhode Island
Bar Journal

"The author gives expert advice on saving costs while at the same time
having an effective law library, and provides specific information on
how to do so." New York State Bar Journal

"All in all, this book provides lots of money-saving advice, can help
you or your law librarian assess the quality of your existing
collection, and might prove useful if you want to add a practice area to
your collection and need guidance about obtaining the proper research
materials." Bottom Line Management

"...His book has already become popular with law librarians who
recognize Svengalis as a leader in the profession an a prophet who has
the courage to speak the truth about legal publishing." Georgia Briscoe
in The Colorado Lawyer